A quiet panic started happening sometime last summer in the world of science. The root of the issue began long before that, but by October 2023 it could no longer be ignored: People don’t really trust science anymore. More specifically, a growing chunk of Americans who lived through the peak global impact of COVID-19 now steeply distrust western medical sciences, including (you guessed it) public health institutions focused on epidemiology and pharmacology. That’s as dangerous for people’s daily lives as it is for any future public investments toward critical research.
And if you attend any of the major science conferences this year, you’re likely to see at least one panel of predominantly white, male big-wigs nervously wringing their hands over what to do about it all. You’ll probably hear them point to a few unsurprising culprits behind the credibility gap which, to be certain, do have a heavy hand in it: intentional political disinformation campaigns and infodemics, predominantly Republican anti-science stump speeches, private companies angling to profit off the fearful and uninformed and sensationalized headlines that get the story wrong.
